Jerry Sandusky on suicide watch after found guilty of child sex abuse

GlobalPost

Former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky, who was found guilty Friday on 45 of 48 counts of child sexually abuse, is now on suicide watch in jail, according to his lawyer.

Speaking on CNN, Sandusky's co-counsel Karl Rominger said Sandusky was being held in protective custody for his own safety in an area away from others, while he awaits his sentence.

The Guardian reported he will likely spend the rest of his life in prison, although his attorneys will appeal the decision.

"The judge was very fair to us on many levels, but there were a lot of unique legal issues where he made rulings that could be overturned, not because they were, per se, wrong, but because the law in the area was so unclear," Rominger told CNN.

He also said "substantial constitutional questions" surrounded the case, and added he and lawyer Joe Amendola asked the judge to be removed from the case but the judge denied the request. Both felt they were not adequately prepared to defend the former coach.

The verdict came after 21 hours of deliberations from the sequestered jurors who were unaware that Sandusky's own adopted son Matt Sandusky said Thursday that his father abused him and had offered to testify against him, Reuters reported.

More from GlobalPost: Jerry Sandusky found guilty on 45 of 48 child molestation counts (VIDEO)

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